The #5 article in Best of CLO 2011 is Shankland on Making the Most of Luck by GM Sam Shankland. Judges also enjoyed Sam's humble outlook and his psychological insights. Shankland's article featured his fantastic first round upset at the 2011 World Cup, where he downed one of the top GMs in the World, GM Peter Leko.

This was a very good personal look at GM Shankland's experience in
preparation for and play at the World Cup, written in a refreshing
humble style which made it enjoyable to read- Myron Lieberman

There’s nothing like an exceptional experience told by its protagonist. Sam Shankland is a very talented GM and could be a great source of inspiration for young chess players in the United States, especially because he didn’t “benefit” from an East-European country of origin, so much more US players can identify themselves with him.

His adventure in the World Cup has a fairy tale flavor at times but he gives it a touch of reality that involve the readers even more. Sam gently grabs our hands and takes us through his mishaps, thoughts, worries and feelings, with great honesty and providing little ‘snapshots’ of what he saw and felt in the process.

I can picture in my mind a young player thinking “I’d like to do what Sam did!” after reading this article and try to understand what it takes to turn this dream into reality: this is the kind of articles I treasure very much for the great inspiration value it holds--Janis Nisii

I appreciated this article because I liked the personality of the author. I thought that it was cool that he played in the World Chess Championships candidate tournament in Siberia. He seemed humble and I liked the story's theme of luck.--Galen Pyle

This was a good human interest article. I really like GM Shankland's lack of ego and the descriptions of his thoughts and feelings, especially as they relate to giving Peter Leko a draw- Rachel Lieberman